Thomas Tomkins When David Heard Sacred Choral Works

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge CHANDOS early music Ben Wright Ben

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, with its Director of Music, Andrew Nethsingha Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656)

1 When David heard that Absalom was slain 5:28 Full anthem for five-part choir

2 Almighty God, which hast knit together 5:09 for eight-part choir and organ Alec D’Oyly treble Robert Murray John treble Hamish McLaren counter-tenor Thomas Blackie counter-tenor John Clapham tenor Kieran Brunt tenor Xavier Hetherington tenor Geoffrey Claphambass Jonathan Hyde bass

3 Magnificat 5:40 for five-part choir and organ from the Sixth Service Alec D’Oyly treble Oliver Brown treble Hamish McLaren counter-tenor Thomas Blackie counter-tenor

3 4 Nunc dimittis 2:49 for five-part choir and organ from the Sixth Service Alec D’Oyly treble Oliver Brown treble Alexander Simpson counter-tenor Hamish McLaren counter-tenor

5 Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom 7:14 Full anthem for five-part choir

6 A Sad Pavan for these distracted times 3:30

7 My shepherd is the living Lord 3:51 Verse anthem for four-part choir and organ Thomas Blackie counter-tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor

8 Behold, I bring you glad tidings 3:39 Verse anthem for ten-part choir and organ

4 9 Voluntary in A minor 3:32

10 Jubilate 7:09 for ten-part choir with organ from the Third ‘( Great’) Service Alexander Simpson counter-tenor Hamish McLaren counter-tenor Oliver El-Holiby counter-tenor Thomas Blackie counter-tenor Guy Edmund-Jones tenor Kieran Brunt tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor Xavier Hetherington tenor Augustus Perkins Ray bass Geoffrey Claphambass John Holland-Avery bass Jonathan Hyde bass

11 Clarifica me Pater 2:25

5 12 Te Deum 11:45 for ten-part choir with organ from the Third ‘( Great’) Service Alexander Simpson counter-tenor Hamish McLaren counter-tenor Oliver El-Holiby counter-tenor Thomas Blackie counter-tenor Guy Edmund-Jones tenor Kieran Brunt tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor Xavier Hetherington tenor Augustus Perkins Ray bass Geoffrey Claphambass John Holland-Avery bass Jonathan Hyde bass TT 62:21

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Freddie James organ Andrew Nethsingha © Annelies van der Vegt der van © Annelies

Sir Arnold Bax: Tone Poems

Andrew Nethsingha Thomas Tomkins: Sacred Choral Works

The modern revival of interest in the music display more convincingly than any of his of Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656) began contemporaries. The glad tidings of Christ’s less than a century ago. First came the 1928 birth are sung by the trebles alone, in the publication of Tomkins’s English Service reserved manner appropriate to church music in the Tudor Church Music series; delivery, while behind them the organ frolics the complete edition of the keyboard music away (especially at the word ‘joy’) with secular and Denis Stevens’s biography of Tomkins abandon. The angel throng then sings ‘Glory appeared in the 1950s; and ’s be to God in the highest’ in messily ebullient edition of the ninety-four anthems in the ten-part polyphony: these angels are in posthumous publication Musica Deo Sacra party mode. The arrival of ‘peace on earth’ is (‘Music to the service of God’) was drip-fed presented in reverential homophony before from the early 1960s to the early 1990s ‘good will’ sets up a repeated plagal ostinato in a series of six volumes. More recently, to bring this seasonal anthem to a reassuring Tomkins has been the subject of renewed close. enthusiasm with the publication in 2005 of Anthony Boden’s Thomas Tomkins: the last My shepherd is the living Lord Elizabethan. My shepherd is the living Lord sets the mid- sixteenth century metrical version of the 23rd Behold, I bring you glad tidings Psalm (‘The Lord is my shepherd’) and is cast Tomkins excelled in the genre of the verse in calming pastoral tones. First a solo counter- anthem, and three of his finest are presented tenor and then a tenor and counter-tenor duet on this recording. Behold, I bring you glad are answered by measured four-part choir. tidings shows both the sophistication and directness of musical expression that were Almighty God, which hast knit together typical of the early seventeenth century – Almighty God, which hast knit together is a characteristics that Tomkins was able to setting of the Collect for All Saints’ Day,

8 which achieves its effect with characteristic that this prayer for compassion will ultimately effortlessness on Tomkins’s part. Solo voices be answered; so Tomkins sets the final Amen appear one after the other, inexorably leading with music that is smoulderingly glamorous to choral conjunction in order to show the in its gratitude. knitting together of the chosen ones ‘in one communion and fellowship’. Thereafter, the When David heard that Absalom was slain ‘unspeakable joys’ are just that – musical When David heard that Absalom was slain is syncopations that paint the idea of joy Tomkins’s most famous anthem. It is a setting much more economically and effectively of words taken from the Old Testament’s than a thousand words could. The choir’s Second Book of Samuel, and its narrative final ‘Amen’ is similarly effective. You can makes this masterwork more akin to the say the word ‘Amen’ as many times as you genre of the sacred than to the like, but prayerful closure is best achieved church anthem. The heart-rending grief of by marshalling jovially assured eight-voice David at the loss of his son offers a foretaste polyphony. of the tragedy that Tomkins himself would suffer, which began with the death of his Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom wife in 1642, four years before parliamentary The two full anthems included here are for forces took over Worcester and ripped the five voices (in both cases the counter-tenor organ out of the cathedral, and with it the divides). Almighty God, the fountain of heart of Tomkins’s musical contribution to all wisdom is a masterpiece of careful text that institution. setting. The pleading suspension at the word ‘beseech’, the transparent desolation at the A Sad Pavan for these distracted times words ‘we cannot ask’, and the plangent It is hardly surprising that when his homophony cascading towards the word musical leadership at ‘worthiness’ culminate in the crucifyingly was terminated by surrender to the uncomfortable harmonic false relations that Parliamentarians, Tomkins turned to drive the nails into the name ‘Jesus Christ’. composing music which he himself could play But the message of this post-Communion in private at the keyboard. ‘A Sad Pavan for collect, in spite of its self-deprecating tone, is these distracted times’ is a despondent enough

9 title in itself, and the music within it is the composer constructed a ‘distracted’ non- compelling because of its sincere melancholy. liturgical creation, that error matters little. At times his heart almost stops beating, but Tomkins the ardent royalist carries on his Third Service: Te Deum / Jubilate nostalgic grieving until the bitter end of this The Third Service is the largest and most iconic work. ambitious of the collections of canticles that Tomkins wrote. It is dubbed ‘Mr Tomkins’s Voluntary in A minor Great Service’ in its manuscript source, this The Voluntary in A minor shows the moniker indicating that the setting is not joint influences of the keyboard styles of just substantial, but that it is constructed (c. 1540 – 1623, the assumed on the principle of alternating passages for former teacher of Tomkins) and soloists with those for full choir. The choir (c. 1560 – 1628). Tomkins revered the music splits into ten real parts on occasion, and the of those two composers for different reasons: richness of the solo writing means that it is Byrd’s music ‘for Substance’ and Bull’s music not always instantly possible to distinguish ‘for the Hand’. Indeed, Tomkins’s keyboard aurally between passages for full and reduced music replicates both the tight counterpoint of textures. The scale and expertise required of Byrd’s style and the virtuosity of Bull’s. all the singers make it probable that this was a work written for use at the . Clarifica me Pater This is demonstrated nowhere better than Sixth Service: Magnificat / Nunc dimittis in Clarifica me Pater (dated September By contrast, the more modest Sixth Service 1650, when Tomkins was two years short was written at the very end of the sixteenth of his eightieth birthday). Thecantus firmus century when Tomkins was in his twenties, that makes up the top voice of the keyboard and shows clearly the debt that Tomkins texture is the plainchant melody of the owed to William Byrd and Passiontide antiphon that Tomkins himself (1557 / 58 – 1602) – a copy of Morley’s incorrectly labelled Glorifica me Pater. But A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical as the Roman Catholic plainchant is used Music survives with Tomkins’s annotations. purely as antique scaffolding beneath which The fascination that Tomkins had for the

10 musical practices of his forbears never left high-profile venues around the UK, the him, and although he lived until the years Choir regularly performs with orchestras and of the Protectorate, he was by birth and ensembles such as the Royal Philharmonic temperament an Elizabethan. Thomas Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Tomkins is the paradigm of a composer who and . In the course is individually innovative yet generically of a busy international touring schedule it conservative. has visited the USA, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and continental © 2014 Jeremy Summerly Europe. The singers receive a unique musical The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge education in an extremely varied repertoire, is one of the finest men and boys choirs in from Renaissance polyphony and the the world, known and loved by millions from masses of Haydn to twentieth-century its recordings, broadcasts, and concert tours. and specially commissioned contemporary A cornerstone of the great English choral music. Committed to engaging with a wide tradition since the 1670s, it is recognised for audience through digital innovations, the its distinctive, rich, and expressive sound. Choir is the first in Britain to broadcast its Under the current directorship of Andrew services in weekly webcasts all year round, Nethsingha, the Choir is made up of sixteen and in 2011 launched SJC Live, an online Choristers and four Probationers who are archive for music lovers and choirmasters. educated at St John’s College School. The A key innovation of Nethsingha’s is the alto, tenor, and bass parts are usually establishment of St John’s Sinfonia, a taken by fifteen Undergraduates, with two professional period-instrument ensemble Organ Scholars assisting in the daily running formed with Margaret Faultless in 2011, of the Choir. Frequently broadcast on with which the Choir gives termly liturgical BBC Radio 3, services in the College Chapel performances of cantatas by Bach. Under follow the Cathedral tradition of the Church Nethsingha and the former Directors of of England, with six days a week Music , Christopher Robinson, during term and Sung Eucharist on Sunday and David Hill, the Choir has produced an mornings. On the concert platform, in extraordinary and extensive discography.

11 Since signing an exclusive contract with Humanities Research Council Studentship. Chandos Records in 2009, it has released He has given recitals at the Hereford Three eight CDs, spanning music from across 500 Choirs Festival, , St Peter’s years, which have garnered international Cathedral, Belfast, St Patrick’s Cathedral, critical acclaim. Renowned for championing Dublin, Coventry Cathedral, Grote Kerk, contemporary music, the Choir of St John’s Rotterdam, and King’s College, Cambridge, College, Cambridge regularly commissions among others. Freddie James won all the prizes new works, and has recently performed the in the Fellowship examinations of the Royal world premieres of works by Nico Muhly, John College of Organists and was awarded both McCabe, Michael Finnissy, and Tim Watts. a Silver Medal and the W.T. Best Memorial www.sjcchoir.co.uk Scholarship by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Freddie James began his musical education at where he was a chorister Performing as a conductor and organist in for seven years. While a music scholar at North America, South Africa, the Far East, Westminster School he was at and throughout Europe, Andrew Nethsingha Croydon Minster. After leaving Westminster has since 2007 been Director of Music at School he spent a year studying organ with St John’s College, Cambridge, where his Professor Jacques van Oortmerssen at the innovations have included weekly webcasts and Conservatorium van Amsterdam, assisted a termly Bach cantata series. He received his by a Nicholas Danby Trust bursary and a early musical training as a chorister at Exeter grant from the Eric Thompson Trust, and Cathedral, where his father was organist for was Assistant Organist of the Basiliek van over a quarter of a century. He later studied de Heilige Nicolaas, Amsterdam. In June at the , where he 2013 he graduated with a double first from won seven prizes, and at St John’s College, St John’s College, Cambridge, where he had Cambridge. He held Organ Scholarships under been organ scholar for three years. During Christopher Robinson at St George’s, Windsor this time he studied organ with Dr Gordon and George Guest at St John’s, before becoming Stewart. He then stayed in Cambridge to Assistant Organist at . He was study for an M.Phil., supported by an Arts & subsequently Director of Music at Truro and

12 cathedrals. Additionally, he has Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and held the positions of Artistic Director of the The Kingdom, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Gloucester and Musical Poulenc’s Gloria, and Duruflé’s Requiem. He Director of the Gloucester Choral Society, has also worked with the Royal Philharmonic among others, and served as President of the Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Cathedral Organists’ Association. Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Britten Andrew Nethsingha has worked with Sinfonia, Aarhus Symfoniorkester, and BBC some of the leading orchestras in the UK. His Concert Orchestra, and recently conducted concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the BBC Proms, the Concertgebouw, have included performances of Mahler’s Eighth Amsterdam, and Suntory Hall, Tokyo. He Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, regularly runs choral courses abroad, notably Britten’s War Requiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches in France, Mexico, and the USA.

13 Sir Arnold Bax: ToneSir Arnold Bax: Poems Freddie James

Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library

Ben Wright 1 When David heard that Absalom 3 Magnificat was slain from the Sixth Service When David heard that Absalom was slain, My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my he went up to his chamber over the gate, spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. and wept; For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his and thus he said: hand-maiden. O my son Absalom, my son, my son For behold, from henceforth: all Absalom, generations shall call me blessed. would God I had died for thee, For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name. O Absalom, my son, my son. And his mercy is on them that fear him: throughout all generations. 2 Samuel 18: 33 He hath shewed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 2 Almighty God, which hast knit He hath put down the mighty from their together seat: and hath exalted the humble and Almighty God, which hast knit together meek. thine elect in one communion and He hath filled the hungry with good fellowship, things: and the rich he hath sent empty in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our away. Lord: He remembering his mercy hath holpen Grant us grace so to follow thy holy Saints his servant Israel: as he promised to our in all godly and virtuous living, forefathers, Abraham and his seed for that we may come to those unspeakable ever. joys Luke 1 which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for All Saints’ Day,

Book of Common Prayer 15 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and 5 Almighty God, the fountain of all to the Holy Ghost; wisdom As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom shall be: who knowest our necessities before we ask, World without end. Amen and our ignorance in asking; We beseech thee to have compassion on our infirmities; and those things, which for our 4 Nunc dimittis unworthiness we dare not, from the Sixth Service and for our blindness we cannot ask, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart vouchsafe to give us; in peace: according to thy word. for the worthiness of thy Son Jesus Christ For mine eyes have seen: thy salvation; our Lord. Amen. Which thou hast prepared: before the face Holy Communion, Book of Common Prayer of all people; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel. 7 My shepherd is the living Lord Luke 2: 29 My shepherd is the living Lord, nothing therefore I need, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and in pastures fair with waters calm he sets me to the Holy Ghost; for to feed, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: he did convert and glad my soul and World without end. Amen brought my mind in frame to walk in paths of righteousness for his most holy name.

16 Through all my life thy favour is so frankly we are his people, and the sheep of his shewed to me pasture. that in thy house for evermore my dwelling O go your way into his gates with place shall be. Amen. thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: Psalm 23: 1 – 3 be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name. For the Lord is gracious, 8 Behold, I bring you glad tidings his mercy is everlasting: Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, and his truth endures from generation to that shall be to all people, generation. that unto you is born this day, Psalm 100 in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and Glory be to God in the highest, to the Holy Ghost; and peace on earth, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever and towards men good will. shall be: World without end. Amen. Luke 2: 10 – 14

12 Te Deum 10 Jubilate from the Third (‘Great’) Service from the Third (‘Great’) Service We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: thee to be the Lord. serve the Lord with gladness, All the earth doth worship thee: the Father and come before his presence with a song. everlasting. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God: To thee all Angels cry aloud: the heavens it is he that hath made us and not we and all the powers therein. ourselves;

17 To thee Cherubim and Seraphim: Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in continually do cry, the glory of the Father. Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth; We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty: Judge. of thy glory. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants: The glorious company of the Apostles: whom thou hast redeemed with thy praise thee. precious blood. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: Make them to be numbered with thy praise thee. Saints: in glory everlasting. The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee. O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine The holy Church throughout all the world: heritage. doth acknowledge thee; Govern them: and lift them up for ever. The Father: of an infinite Majesty; Day by day: we magnify thee; Thine honourable, true: and only Son; And we worship thy Name: ever world Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter. without end. Thou art the King of glory: O Christ. Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father. without sin. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy man: thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s upon us. womb. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as When thou hadst overcome the sharpness our trust is in thee. of death: O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to be confounded. all believers.

18 Also available

CHSA 0401 Sheppard Sacredsr Choral Works

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20 Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Andrew Nethsingha Director of Music Freddie James Organ Scholar treble Matthew Holman counter-tenor bass Maximilian Boorman Andrew Jones Thomas Blackie Joseph Ataman Joel Branston Robert Murray John Oliver El-Holiby Quintin Beer Oliver Brown Peter Nethsingha Hamish McLaren Geoffrey Clapham Francis Bushell Rufus Pawsey Alexander Simpson John Holland-Avery Jason Cobb Michael Tuft Jonathan Hyde William Collison Jed Upjohn tenor Augustus Perkins Ray Alec D’Oyly Sebastian Wade Kieran Brunt Peter Hicks Samuel Williams John Clapham Guy Edmund-Jones Xavier Hetherington Samuel Oladeinde

Vocal consultant David Lowe

Recording producer Rachel Smith Sound engineer Jonathan Cooper Editor Rachel Smith A & R administrator Sue Shortridge Recording venue St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge; 16 – 18 July 2013 Front cover Worcester Cathedral, River Severn, painting (oil on canvas) attributed to David Cox the elder (1783 – 1859), courtesy of Worcester City Museum Collection Back cover Photograph of Andrew Nethsingha by Ronald Knapp Design and typesetting Cap & Anchor Design Co. (www.capandanchor.com) Booklet editor Finn S. Gundersen P 2014 Chandos Records Ltd • C 2014 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX, England Country of origin UK

21 Ben Wright

Sir Arnold Bax: Tone Poems

Andrew Nethsingha with the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge TOMKINS: SACRED CHORAL WORKS – CSJCC TOMKINS: SACRED CHORAL WORKS – CSJCC

CHACONNE DIGITAL CHAN 0804

Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656) 1 When David heard that Absalom was slain 5:28 Full anthem for five-part choir 2 almighty God, which hast knit together 5:09 Verse anthem for eight-part choir and organ p 2014 Chandos Records Ltd c 2014 Chandos Records Ltd 3 Magnificat 5:40 Chandos Records Ltd for five-part choir and organ, from the Sixth Service Colchester • Essex • England 4 Nunc dimittis 2:49 for five-part choir and organ, from the Sixth Service 5 almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom 7:14 / /

Nethsingha Nethsingha Full anthem for five-part choir Nethsingha 6 a Sad Pavan for these distracted times 3:30 7 My shepherd is the living Lord 3:51 Verse anthem for four-part choir and organ 8 Behold, I bring you glad tidings 3:39 Verse anthem for ten-part choir and organ 9 Voluntary in A minor 3:32 10 Jubilate 7:09 for ten-part choir with organ, from the Third (‘Great’) Service C choir of St John’s College, CHAN 0804 CHANDOS 11 clarifica me Pater 2:25 CHAN 0804 CHANDOS 12 Te Deum 11:45 Cambridge for ten-part choir with organ, from the Third (‘Great’) Service Freddie James organ A TT 62:21 andrew Nethsingha